OCT 6-9,2011- NASHVILLE CITY DOCK, TN

We have arrived at Nashville City Dock which is directly under the Shelby Pedestrian Bridge and will be calling this home for the next three days. There are other loopers here, Last Chance, Last Dance, Erika Lin, and Duddon Pilot. They have all been here for a few days and have scoped the area out for us. Their information was a great help and saved us a lot of time. Bob from Spirit Dancer had warned us about a homeless man who lives on the river bank right beside the dock. That was two years ago and I didn’t really expect that the poor soul would still be here. I was wrong for he is still here and he bothered no one and we didn’t bother him. We found Nashville to have more than its fair share of vagrants and homeless people. Terri, on her early morning Smudge walks would pass by them sleeping in the park and elsewhere. Again they didn’t bother us and we didn’t bother them. Upon waking up the first morning I talked to Peter from Duddon Pilot who was the boat docked right behind us. Sometime around 2:00 am they were aroused by someone up above us on the bridge throwing wooden blocks down at their boat. The police were called but of course the culprits were never found. Peter and Maureen from Duddon Pilot just moved their boat when space came available and got on with life. The next night was Saturday and there was a college football game that evening and the rowdies had returned with their wooden blocks which they rained down upon Erika Lin. They too ended up moving in the middle of the night which is never a fun thing to do. Terrmar, appeared to be out of the line of fire as we were directly under the bridge and out of the reach of the culprits. Never the less this and all of the homeless people on the weekend forced me to lock the boat at night and when we were absent. This was the first time on our trip we have done that.

TERRMAR AT NASHVILLE CITY DOCK UNDER THE BRIDGE

WOODEN BLOCKS THAT ARE LAUNCHED FROM THE BRIDGE OVERHEAD

Nashville is known for its Honky-tonks and they were all within a two block area, walking distance of the boat. We had heard many good things about the music and this is why we choose this place to dock the boat. We were not disappointed! We quickly found ourselves at the Hard Rock Café for lunch on the first day as Terri had deemed the Honky-tonks a great place to visit for music and a beer but not up to her standards in the culinary department. I think she watches Chef Ramsey on TV too often. We spent the first day just going from store to store and Honky-tonk to Honky-tonk. We picked out what we figured were the best ones and planned to return the next day to spend a longer period of time in fewer establishments. The music generally was very good and the musicians all played for tips. The bar of course made its money slinging beer and everyone was happy. Most of the time in the afternoon the places were packed with people and a seat had to be waited for. No worries as the atmosphere more than made up for my aching bones. The talent from one group to the other or one musician to the other varied but Terri and I both agreed on our two favorites. One was a 16 year old lead guitar player who was just filling in for a band, and the other was a fiddle player that touched Terri’s soul. Generally there is a tip jar in front of the band and most people stuffed it when they were leaving. But in this case Terri wanted to make sure that the fiddle player got the tip directly and bypassed the tip jar. Sisterhood smiled upon them both as the tip money passed from one hand to another.

TERRI LOVED THIS RESTAURANT

FIDDLE PLAYER ON THE LEFT TOUCHED TERRI'S HEART

16 YEAR OLD LEAD GUITAR PLAYER AMAZING!

The previous night Terri and I had tickets for the Grand Ole Opry. While I enjoyed it immensely, Terri found the Honky-tonks more to her liking. The artists were generally younger and the up close feeling made the whole experience that much more enjoyable. The Grand Ole Opry while an experience in itself was certainly less of a close up experience. Perhaps the nose bleed seats and the chatty group of ladies behind us tainted our view. We were sitting so far back and by no means were we at the very back that we spent the entire show watching the performances on one of the big screens. Charlie Pride, and most of the other performers that night while good were well past their prime and it showed. We had started the evening off with a dinner reservation at the Gaylord Resort American Café. This is one of the area’s most famous restaurants and it was situated in a huge building filled with waterfalls and tropical plants. The water falls while a nice thing to watch were also very distracting to the diners. So much so that our server admitted to us that she thinks it had adversely affected her hearing. Regardless, Terri enjoyed her Salmon with a blend of Citrus Asian Sauce and Shtick Mushroom Tea Sauce. My steak was fabulous once they had returned with a second attempt at getting the rare part rare.

ART ???

LP FIELD HOME OF THE TENNESSEE TITANS

VINYL RECORDS MAKING A COMEBACK

OLD AND NEW

PREVIOUS SIGHT OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY

TERRI TRYING TO UPGRADE OUR TICKETS

Today is Sunday morning and we will be leaving but before we do we have one last visit to make. At Robert’s Honky-tonk there is a Gospel Hour at 10:30 am every Sunday. Terri and I both had looked forward to this. We were not disappointed as the band leader was a real preacher who sprinkled his sermon between the band’s gospel tunes. The coffee, tea and snacks were free and supplied by Robert’s. The hat was passed with all of the money going to help rescued horses to be re-introduced back to health and eventually a new owner. The CD sold for $10 and we now have it in our collection.

TOOTSIES HONKEY-TONK

ROBERTS OUR FAVOURITE HONKEY-TONK

WHAT A PLAN

TOOK THIS PIC FOR AL

ANOTHER PURINA DEALERSHIP GONE

A LITTLE CANADIAN INFLUENCE

DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE

MEMORABILIA COVERED THE WALLS

THIS REMINDED US OF TERRI'S AUNT MABEL

COWBOY BOOTS FOR SALE EVERYWHERE

BUT NO TERRI WANTED THIS ONE

A sad note to end this blog excerpt: Peter and Maureen from Duddon Pilot have had to put their ailing 12 year old dog down. Of course this is crushing to both of them as it came as a complete surprise! As Maureen said later “he is the one in the family that never caused any grief.” We received the news from Peter by cell phone the following day as they had stayed an extra day in Nashville to deal with this. Terri, our girls and I know the feeling only too well. Peter and Maureen will be in our prayers and we can only hope that time will perform its magic.

Mark